Towards a Light-weight Enterprise Architecture Approach for Building Transformational Preparedness

The need for business agility in order to cope with the increasing rate of changes brought by disruptive technologies and paradigms is more stringent than ever; unfortunately however, it also encounters many hurdles. To start with, typical strategic transformation planning featuring successive specify-design-implement phases is no longer suitable, as the resulting sequentially staged processes can no longer catch up with the changes in internal structure and external environment. The blurring of top organisational role boundaries in regards to the allocation of management and architecture skillsets is another issue significantly affecting agility. Finally, the lack of structure and integration of business transformation and architecting methodologies offered by various disciplines and vendors affects the ability to use them for specific endeavours. This paper elaborates on and illustrates the above-mentioned problems through a case study and proposes a way to solve them in a holistic, lifecycle-aware manner using a ‘lightweight’ architectural framework approach

Enterprise Architecture in Healthcare Networks: A Systematic Literature Review

Healthcare organizations collaborate, share knowledge, and need to be accountable to each other. Therefore, healthcare organizations manage a dynamic information system landscape. Enterprise Architecture (EA) is a management tool for aligning these landscapes to the primary information needs that healthcare organizations have. EA is of value in some environments, but it seems to be not well suited to the dynamics of healthcare. Despite the publication of several systematic literature reviews on EA in healthcare, a systematic literature study comparing EA applicability at various levels of cooperation (intra, inter, and network collaboration) is lacking. Therefore, we posed the following research question: To what extent is EA researched within healthcare organizations in the context of intra, inter and network collaboration? A systematic literature review was used to select 94 scientific publications for evaluation. These studies make explicit the EA elements at three levels of collaboration in the context of healthcare. The findings show that EA is most frequently studied in relation to a single healthcare organization with a wide range of topics. IT governance and EA implementation are the subjects of the majority of EA network level studies (17 out of 94 studies), followed by building/developing EA, EA acceptance, EA issues and root causes, and EA modeling. Although numerous EA frameworks are discussed in studies at the intra- and interorganizational levels, they are rarely referenced in studies at the network level. Additionally, the EA benefits, success factors, and challenges are comparable at high level, but details differ per level. These findings demonstrate that EA is researched within the healthcare sector context. The majority of knowledge on EA is focused on a single healthcare organization, but little is known about EA in a networked healthcare environment. To learn more about how EA might be used in a healthcare network setting, a research agenda has been set up based on the results

Implementing Sustainable Competitive Advantage to the Public Sector's Management System - By Sense & Respond Methodology in Facilities Services Unit's Preparedness

Tutkimuksen tarkoitus on strategian resurssilähtöinen tunnistaminen kestävän kilpailuedun toteuttamiseksi julkisen sektorin hallintajärjestelmässä. Tutkimuksessa arvioidaan empiirisesti kriittiset tekijät (BCFI, SCFI ja NSCFI) tunnistamismenetelmän sovellettavuutta operatiiviseen johtamiseen. Tämä tapahtuu hyödyntämällä strategista analyysiä ja syventämällä tutkimuksen tuloksia ja johtopäätöksiä haastatteluin. Tutkimusmenetelminä ovat tapaustutkimus ja kaksivaiheinen kyselytutkimus, jossa oli yhdistetty analyyttiseen hierarkiaprosessiin pohjautuva lomake ja kaksi Sense & Respond menetelmään pohjautuvaa lomaketta. Kyselytutkimuksessa oli mukana kolme kuudesta Seinäjoen kaupungin hierarkiatasosta. Julkisen sektorin esimies löytää kriittiset tekijät suorituskyvylle parhaiten NSCFI-mallilla. Analyysin perusteella ennen ja jälkeen kriisiä, ennakoivan yksikön vahvimmin vaikuttava strateginen tyyppi on Prospector eli edelläkävijä. Operatiivisen johtamisen näkökulmasta lähiesimiehillä kriittisimmät tekijät ovat tiedon ja teknologian mahdollistamat edellytykset. Kokemukset eivät kohdanneet odotuksia. Saavuttaakseen ylläpitopalvelut yksikön tavoitteet kriittisinä tekijöinä työntekijätasolla ovat tuotteiden, toimintojen ja prosessien laadunhallinta. Tutkimus on tärkeä. Löydökset sekä haastattelut vahvistavat kehittämistoimet. Muuntavan johtamisen tulokset antavat vahvan viitteen varautumiseen ja jatkotutkimuksesta liittyen: operatiivinen kestävä kilpailuetu (OSCA).fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Defence white paper 2013

The Government brought forward delivery of the new White Paper by one year from its original 2014 timetable to address a number of significant international and domestic developments influencing Australia’s national security and defence posture internationally and domestically that have emerged since the 2009 Defence White Paper.The White Paper considers in detail the implications of the changing strategic circumstances in our region for Australia\u27s national security and defence, including:The ongoing strategic shift to our region, the Asia Pacific and the Indian Ocean Rim, particularly the shift of economic weight to our region; The US re-balance to the Asia Pacific and Australia\u27s enhanced practical cooperation with the US pursuant to our 60-year-old Alliance relationship; The ADF\u27s operational drawdown from Afghanistan, Timor-Leste and the Solomon Islands; Australia\u27s own Force Force Posture Review- the first in a quarter of a century; and The ongoing adverse effects of the Global Financial Crisis, which have continued to have a significant impact on the global economy. The White Paper addresses in detail the implications of these developments for Australia\u27s national security and defence settings, It outlines Australia’s strategy for maintaining a highly capable and credible ADF, our contribution to the region’s long-term security, and how Australia will seize the opportunities and manage the challenges in our strategic environment. Together with the Government’s National Security Strategy and Australia in the Asian Century White Paper, the 2013 Defence White Paper provides a comprehensive strategy for assuring Australia’s future security and prosperity in our diverse and challenging region

An Epistemological Inquiry into the Incorporation of Emergency Management Concept in the Homeland Security with a Post-Disaster Security Centric Focus

The historical roots of the Emergency Management concept in the U.S. date back to 19th century. As disasters occurred, policies relating to disaster response have been developed, and many statuary provisions, including several Federal Disaster Relief Acts, conceptually established the framework of Emergency Management. In 1979, with the foundation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), disaster relief efforts were finally institutionalized, and the federal government acknowledged that Emergency Management included mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery activities as abbreviated \u27MPRR.\u27 However, after 2000, the U.S. experienced two milestone events - the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Following the foundation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2002, the definitional context of Emergency Management and its phases/components, simply its essence, evolved and was incorporated into many official documents differently, creating contextual inconsistencies. Recent key official documents embody epistemological problems that have the potential to traumatize the coherence of the Homeland Security contextual framework as well as to impose challenges theoretically to the education and training of Homeland Security/Emergency Management stakeholders. Furthermore, the conceptual design of the Emergency Support Functions (ESF) which have been defined within the context of the National Response Framework (NRF) displays similar problematic symptoms, and existing urban area Public Safety and Security planning processes have also not been supported by methodologies that are aligned with the post-disaster security requirements. To that end, the conceptual framework of Emergency Management and its incorporation in the Homeland Security global architecture should be revised and redefined to enhance coherence and reliability. Coherence in the contextual structure directly links to the system\u27s organizational structure and its viability functions. Also, holistic multi-dimensional system representations/abstractions, which would support appreciation of the system\u27s complex context, should be incorporated in policy documents to be utilized to educate the relevant stakeholders (individuals, teams, etc.) during the training/orientation programs. In addition, the NRF and its ESFs should be reviewed through a post-disaster security centric focus, since the post-disaster environment has unique characteristics that should be addressed by different approaches. In that sense, this dissertation develops a Post-Disaster Security Index (PDSI) Model that provides valuable insights for security agents and other Emergency Management and Homeland Security stakeholders

Futureproofing against shock : institutional responses to terrorist risk in London, 1990–2020

Employing an institutionalist approach to governance, and engaging with recent scholarship on organisational resilience and scalar politics, this paper focuses upon institutional reactions to terrorism in London between 1990-2020 and explores the mechanisms through which responses to disruption occurred. Empirically, this applied paper tracks specific emergency processes, governance assemblages and policy mechanisms that have been enacted in London in response to terrorism. More specifically, it tracks changes in the institutional dynamics involved in the reorganisation of traditional governance apparatus, the mobilisation of adaptive capacity, and the generation of multi-stakeholder visions for futureproofing against terrorist attack. Such institutional changes are explored through three vignettes of responses to terrorist incidents: against financial targets in the 1990s; in relation the risk of attack after 9/11 and in preparation for securing the 2012 Olympics; and in response to recent attacks against crowded places since 2012. This paper illuminates how institutional responses to terrorism have evolved from a focus upon small specialist networks that dealt just with terrorism, to much larger multi-institutional, multi-scalar and multi-hazard responses to, and preparations for, complex emergencies that cut across numerous administrative jurisdictions. The paper concludes by posing wider questions about optimal institutional form(s) required for responding to future shocks

Innovation, Internationalization and Entrepreneurship

Over the past years, businesses have had to tackle the issues caused by numerous forces from political, technological and societal environment. The changes in the global market and increasing uncertainty require us to focus on disruptive innovations and to investigate this phenomenon from different perspectives. The benefits of innovations are related to lower costs, improved efficiency, reduced risk, and better response to the customers’ needs due to new products, services or processes. On the other hand, new business models expose various risks, such as cyber risks, operational risks, regulatory risks, and others. Therefore, we believe that the entrepreneurial behavior and global mindset of decision-makers significantly contribute to the development of innovations, which benefit by closing the prevailing gap between developed and developing countries. Thus, this Special Issue contributes to closing the research gap in the literature by providing a platform for a scientific debate on innovation, internationalization and entrepreneurship, which would facilitate improving the resilience of businesses to future disruptions

Supporting community engagement through teaching, student projects and research

The Education Acts statutory obligations for ITPs are not supported by the Crown funding model. Part of the statutory role of an ITP is “... promotes community learning and by research, particularly applied and technological research ...” [The education act 1989]. In relation to this a 2017 TEC report highlighted impaired business models and an excessive administrative burden as restrictive and impeding success. Further restrictions are seen when considering ITPs attract < 3 % of the available TEC funding for research, and ~ 20 % available TEC funding for teaching, despite having overall student efts of ~ 26 % nationally. An attempt to improve performance and engage through collaboration (community, industry, tertiary) at our institution is proving successful. The cross-disciplinary approach provides students high level experience and the technical stretch needed to be successful engineers, technologists and technicians. This study presents one of the methods we use to collaborate externally through teaching, student projects and research